Micro actuated grating for multi-beam optical pickups

Abstract

A stress-induced curved \micro actuator with a grating attached at the end is demonstrated for recordable optical storage applications. The actuator and the grating were fabricated using a two-layer poly-silicon and one-layer silicon nitride micro-machining process. Three diffracted beams with equal intensity from the grating were generated when a voltage is applied to the actuator to switch its position. The single-beam and multi-beam configurations can be used for writing and reading data in the disc, respectively.